VT Census Case Studies : Department of Education - High School and Beyond Survey

Created by ziemer on 12 Aug 2015

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

Followed two cohorts of students (10th and 12th graders in 1980) over time (6-12 years) and collected data on family status, employment outcomes, voting behavior, patterns of enrollment in postsecondary education, postsecondary expectations, and patterns of educational attainment. 

Link: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsb/index.asp

Date Inventory Completed: 6/30/15

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based?
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • For Education: Is the data collected at least the school level?
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?
  • Can the data be linked to other education/workforce datasets (e.g., K-12, higher education, workforce)?

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

Purpose is to show the progress of students over a period of time

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

To assess student progress over time and use it to inform school policies.

  • Who else uses the data?

Researchers/policy-makers

  • Who do they sell the data to?

NA


Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

transcript, Survey and telephone interview

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Designed collection, administrative

  • If designed, who created the questions?

Government

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

Students

Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Longitudinal education study

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

1980-1992

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

No longer being collected

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

NA

Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

1980 senior and sophomore high school students


Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

Available on CD-Rom

  • Is it open data?

Yes

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

Need a restricted data license

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

NA

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? NO

Explanation: Data no longer being collected


Full Inventory 

Description

  • What is the general contents of the data source?

Family status, employment outcomes, voting behavior, patterns of enrollment in postsecondary education, postsecondary expectations, and patterns of educational attainment. 

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

Longitudinal

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

NA

Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?

Yes

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

No

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

Yes

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

NA

Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source?

Student

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

Yes

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

Stratified sampling of public and private schools

  • What was the coverage?

Depends on the follow-up survey

Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

The same students were contacted for the follow-ups, but the sample changed depending on who responded.

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they? 

The follow-ups were interviews conducted over the phone as compared to surveys and administrative data collected in the first phase of the study.

  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

No

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Missing data, response bias

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

Extensive report on data quality and cleaning procedures: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs84/84216.pdf

 

Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

Personally identifiable information (e.g., names) is not included.

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process? If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source? Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

No

Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

Yes, written consent

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 

Unknown

  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

Unknown

 

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? (e.g., impact of policies, predictors of student success)

Trends in young adults over time, gender differences in education, urban schools, dropout rates, vocational education, education achievement

  • Include any links to research if provided:

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=022

  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

 NA